Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew, Corbridge

The Church of St Andrew is a parish church of exceptional historical importance, with origins in the late 7th or 8th century. The original nave dates to this Pre-Conquest period, substantially remodelled in the early 11th century when a two-storey west porch was raised into a tower. The church underwent three phases of major remodelling in the 13th century: first, the chancel was rebuilt and a north nave aisle added; second, a north chancel aisle, south nave aisle, and transepts were added; third, the south aisle was widened and a north transept aisle added.

Subsequent alterations include the remodelling of belfry windows in 1729, the addition of a south-west vestry in 1835, insertion of east lancets in 1853, substantial rebuilding of aisle and transept walls in 1867, the addition of a nave clerestory, north vestry, and organ chamber in the early 20th century, and construction of a south porch in 1919.

The building is constructed mainly of rubble incorporating re-used Roman material, except for the squared stone of the chancel and the snecked stone of 19th and 20th century work. Roofs are Welsh slate except for stone slates on the south porch.

The west tower displays massive quoins and a 19th-century three-light window set in the original arched doorway, which has worn saltire crosses on the voussoirs of the relieving arch. Above is a round-headed window. A similar window on the east, above the nave roof, represents the original west window of the taller Pre-Conquest nave, now incorporated into the tower wall. Below the altered bell openings runs a band with later imposts and pointed heads on old jambs. A string course tops this, followed by a tall crenellated parapet with blocked openings on the east and west.

The south porch features clasping buttresses, a moulded Romanesque arch with a small arched window above, and a three-light window with round heads on the west. The aisle wall to the east has two trefoil-headed lancets; the former vestry to the west has a metal-latticed sash and a basket-arched doorway. The north aisle wall is mainly 19th-century except for the west bay, a former vestry or anchorage, which retains a tiny lancet on the north and a slit with lancet above on the west. The clerestory windows comprise one, two, or three round-headed lights. The transepts have gable ends with renewed triplets of lancets and finial crosses. The east wall of the south transept shows a three-light 13th-century window with intersecting tracery and a square-headed light to the north.

The four-bay chancel has a chamfered and moulded plinth, buttresses with gabled setbacks, and moulded strings at sill and window head levels. The lancets in the central bays are trefoil-headed. A two-light low-side window has been inserted in the first bay, and a trefoil-arched priest's door in the second. Similar buttresses at the east end are shortened beneath the lancets. The gables are coped with finial crosses. The eastern half of the chancel aisle, with trefoiled lancets, is 19th-century work, but 13th-century walling and two single-light windows (one now hidden by the organ chamber) survive further west.

Interior

The south porch has a ribbed segmental vault. The 12th-century south door features a round arch of two chevron-moulded orders on shafts with fluted capitals. The unmoulded round-headed tower arch on moulded imposts (the southern cut back) is thought to be a re-set Roman feature. The three-bay nave arcades have double-chamfered pointed arches with broach stops and chamfered hoodmoulds, supported on octagonal piers with moulded capitals. Above the north arcade remain traces of two Pre-Conquest windows. A similar two-bay west arcade appears in the north transept, and a double-chamfered arch leads to the chancel aisle; a similar four-centred arch connects the south transept and nave aisle. A segmental-arched tomb recess on the north of the north transept contains an inscribed medieval slab. A trefoiled piscina is located in the south transept.

The pointed double-chamfered chancel arch rests on double-shafted jambs that were cut back, with additional lower moulded capitals inserted when the arch was widened. The four-bay north arcade mirrors the nave arcades in form. A moulded sill string on the south is carried up over the segmental rear arch of the priest's door, where another trefoiled piscina is set. A late 13th-century slab with a foliate cross and shears has been re-used as the lintel of the low-side window. A two-bay transverse arcade in the north aisle is a 20th-century feature supporting the organ chamber wall.

Fittings and furnishings are of good quality, largely dating from the late 19th or 20th century. Several medieval cross slabs are set in the paving, including an important inscribed example in the south transept. A 17th and 18th-century floor stone of 1708 in the chancel consists of a medieval altar slab re-used for this purpose. Notable early 20th-century glass includes the 'Dorcas window' in the south transept and glass in the south porch.